An Author's First Voyage

Tuesday, 27 April 2010 10:54

Fantasy authors can do far worse than reinvent myth and legend. The problem? Others have done it. They’ve done it so often that books with even one breed of fantasy are getting stale. But a book with vampires, werewolves and pirates? What some might call oversaturation is precisely what makes C.T. Douglas’ first book, “Lore: A Pirate’s Charm,” compelling. It takes place in a forgotten era, when werewolves and vampires roamed the Caribbean, and when “gem-seekers” saw the magic latent in precious stones. The novel opens with an unwitting gemseeker, Molly Bishop, boarding a ship to escape her pursuers in Barbados. The ship’s captain is the infamous Thomas Crowe, a sea dog in more ways than one.

By Mead Bowen

Crowe, Lore’s dark hero and resident werewolf, is knowledgeable, playful and defiantly cocky. He heals supernaturally fast. Yet bleeding terrifies him, for he fears his humanity is what’s really leaving his veins. His fear reveals a monster craving acceptance, wanting desperately to be human, his hope slipping away with every wound. The story also marries the period’s superstitions and its budding scientific developments. Every chapter ends with a journal entry from Geoffrey Mylus, a gemseeker and scientist readers meet in a later book. The entries include science, history, and folklore, and showcase Douglas’ creativity. They also, however, sometimes deaden suspense by referencing concepts introduced in the next chapter. For instance, when Mylus writes of a monster that sailors call “the Devil’s Lighthouse,” it grabs our attention, but we aren’t surprised when a whirlpool starts swallowing merchant vessels five pages later.

The book’s most frustrating dynamic, however, is Molly, defenseless compared to the indestructible Tom. He wades into battle and crosses blades with vampires; she is told to stay indoors and hides behind magic and pistols. Molly so badly needs protection that she feels she can trust Crowe the night she meets him, though her fiancée “died at the hands of a ruthless pirate captain.” Such trust not only makes little sense--it forgoes the chance to make Molly’s trust harder sought, her love harder won, and their relationship better developed.

Douglas depicts Tom and Molly’s romance, however, with novelty. Tom watches Molly dance at a window, her dress moving like “chained water, darting away from her feet and snapping back again.” Such tender moments distinguish their courtship from romance-novel slush and craft a memorable love story.

Descriptions of naval battles also vitalize the story. When Spanish pirates intercept Tom’s ship and demand its cargo, Tom agrees. Yet Tom has lured them into a trap, and soon “the Spanish crew, blown skyward, rained down onto the decks of both ships and littered the sea.”

Though the young author is editing the Lore series, he has already plotted its final voyages, and his planning shows in his intricate plot. It’s worth traversing “A Pirate’s Charm” to discover Lore’s multifaceted world and to prepare for the series’ next adventures. But Douglas might want to ensure Molly can fend for herself before her latest voyage.

Douglas' next book, "Lore: East and Eight," will be released in November. For more information about C.T. Douglas and the Lore trilogy, visit the Web site.